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Civil and other works to rehabilitate captive elephants have been completed.
One of its kind in the central region, the elephant rescue centre has been established inside the reserve forest area at M.R. Palayam adjoining the Tiruchi – Chennai national highway on an area of nearly 20 hectares.
Additional development works have been completed inside the centre including a couple of percolation ponds for rainwater storage. Officials said buildings to accommodate mahouts and ‘cavadis’ (elephant handlers) besides those for veterinary doctor and quarters for the department staff had been completed.
The centre can accommodate seven elephants at a time for which sheds have been constructed. It has a kitchen, hospital, separate walk way for the elephants and shelter for the captive animals besides a Kraal and trenches.
The area has been provided with chain link fence with plantation of taller seedlings inside the centre.
The centre has been established to rehabilitate captive elephants in Tiruchi and its nearby districts and provide immediate medical attention to animals needing them, said District Forest Officer N. Satish.
Established along the highway in a green cover, the centre would act as a transit halt for elephants while being taken to other places such as Vandalur Zoo near Chennai.
He said a proposal has been forwarded to the state government seeking deployment of mahouts and ‘cavadis’ to take care of animals besides a veterinary doctor to treat jumbos. A management plan would be conceived for the centre.